Chesapeake City to NYC

Thursday May 18

Ok, it has been a while since we posted but there really has not been a lot to talk about.  We left Chesapeake City T
hursday am.  We left very early as the entrance is very "Skinny" and we needed to leave as close to high tide as possible.

We progressed down the C&D canal which is a wide, gravel lined ditch that connects the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay.  It was apparently built as a short-cut to get boats to Philadelphia.  The currents can be quite strong along the canal and we progressed slowly but after turning the corner into Delaware Bay we picked up an almost 3 knot favourable current.  

Not much to see, a nuclear power plant, so the time was spent following Drift Away down he middle of the bay.  There was one lighthouse to break the monotony.!
 We also saw some whales flapping their tails.  Our first sighting on the trip.

Once you reach Cape May you go through a canal to cut off the corner.  We decided to wait until one of the large ferries backed out and turned around before it headed for Lewes, Delaware.

Friday -Sunday

We had planned to spend 2 nights here.  Debbie's sister Charlotte lives only 1 1/2 hours away and we had been using her address to send much needed supplies (more vanilla syrup for Sandy's afternoon lattes).   She arrived Friday afternoon and Jim and Sandy borrowed her car to go on a shopping expedition.  After completing our provisioning we ate dinner at Lucky Bones which is where we had eaten on the way down.  Sandy remembered the crab & shrimp cakes and had been comparing all the others on the trip to these!


We had originally planned on leaving Saturday morning but the weather gods have not been nice to us.  It blew 20 to 25 all day and Windy T said there were going to be 4 - 5' waves so we stayed put.  Drift Away was able to get some sewing done and I caught up on paperwork.  In the afternoon we rode bikes into town to see Cape May. This is a touristy neighbourhood and full of souvenir shops, mini golf, restaurants and of course Ice Cream  A stop at Ben & Jerry's was a must.

Interesting, they did not allow dogs to walk along the pedestrian mall.  You could use the cross-streets but not walk down the centre.  Weird!
We did leave early Sunday and started our trek north.  The winds continued to blow 15 to 20 and the seas were still 3 to 5' so we turned in at Atlantic City.

Our original plan was to anchor in a very nice bay just off the harbour but the entrance is quite shallow.  We anchored in the harbour and decided to have lunch and wait a few hours for the tide.
It was then that we realized that the trip the following day would be very long with over 85 miles to go soooo we elected to take the NJICW.  The only reason we did so was we were going to be leaving on a rising tide.  The new Jersey ICW is not meant for 5' draft boats and I saw a lot of 1 to 2' depths and even a few 0.  My props are now well polished!

We arrived at Barnegat Bay around 7:00 and Jim cooked up a great pot of spaghetti.  Just what the doctor ordered after a very stressful day following the ICW and constantly monitoring the depth sounder.  This is definitely not a do again.

This morning we woke up to rain, rain, rain.  It was cold 14 degrees C but not too windy.  We went back into the Atlantic and headed for NYC.  The waves were not too bad but from the starboard quarter so there was a lot of rolling.  The admiral spent the trip in her normal location for this type of weather.  Flat out on the settee with two blankets and a jacket. the captain was on his own!

An uneventful trip other than the rolling, cold and poor visibility with the rain but much preferred to the previous day.

 We are anchored in Great Kills harbour on Staten Island.  Jim found a spot among the many mooring balls.  This location was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy some time ago and many boats sank. We passed one that just had its bow pulpit above water.  Apparently all of the moorings are private and many are not maintained, just abandoned.

A good location and it will give us easy access to NYC via express bus tomorrow.

The unique barges hat you see here.  A ship bow and an inserts in the stern for the tug